REVOLUTIONARY RUSSIA.

Otago Witness, Issue 3396, 16 April 1919, Page 29

REVOLUTIONARY RUSSIA.

A STARVING PEOPLE. (By Cable.) At a recent Bolshevist conference at Petrograd Lunalsharsky, one of the most prominent Bolshevists, frankly avowed that the Bolshevist Government's situation was absolutely intolerable. The faith of its most ardent adherents had been shaken. Owing to lack of bread, fuel, and raw materials the Government was accused of inefficiency. He confesaed that the principal enemy was the Allied blockade, and- he foreshadowed the end of the Bolshevist regime if the blockade continued. The deaths during December totalled 83,000, and in January 120,000. Starvation caused 16,000 deaths. "Mixed" meat is selling at 160 s a pound ; it is believed to be a mixture of dogs' meat and human flesh. Several Chinese, executioners are awaiting trial on charges of disposing of human flesh in the markets 4 . Allied troops in the north. Despatches from Archangel say that the Allies defeated Bolshevist troops south of Orozerskaya. A British Murmansk official report says : Reinforcements of infantry, marching rapidly, . moved down the railway line in anticipation of "nipping in the bud a mutinous tendency amongst the Finnish troops "forming part of General Maynard's forces. The mutineers' object, was believed to effect a junction with the Bolshevists.' '■ v; The Archangel situation is unchanged. So far the. Bolshevists have not resumed their attacks after their recent disastrous failure. A British North Russia official message says: After a night bombardment the enemy, during the morning of' April 5, 1 attacked our positions near Shredmerhenega, and were repulsed with heavy loss. We took 100 prisoners, including a 80l shevist battalion commander. Our casualties wore nil. The Bolshevists lost 7CO dead in the recent fighting. A British North Russia official message states that a disturbance of Chinese workmen in the Murmansk district was soon quelled, the majority of the rioters being arrested. ..'*.-•, North Russian troops have occupied Gapnavalok,, on Lake "Vigozero. A British North Russia official message states that on the Archangel sector it is believed the enemy is preparing a further offensive on the railway front. Arrangements have been made for an exchange of prisoners with the Bolshevists. REINFORCEMENTS. A British North Russia communique states: The Liverpools and Yorkshires, assisted by a company of the Russian army, defended Shredmechenga on the sthApril, while the Russian national army,- fighting for the first time, defeated the" Bolshevists on the 4th. Russian howitzers in one instance were withdrawn from the gunpits and reversed at 400 yards range against the enemy. Canadians, South Africans, and Russians were among the air force pilots and observers, rendering great assistance. A British Murmansk official report, dated April' 5, anounces an improvement in the state of affairs at Kandalaksha. The announcement • that reinforcements were eh route and that other military preparations were being made overawed the leaders of the Finns, Karelians, and Bolshevists who had been planning a rising on a large scale. The leaders in the Finnish region signed an agreement to comply in future with the wishes of the general officer commanding. The War Office states that, according to later information from Murmansk, the immediate danger of a Finnish and Karelian rising has been averted. The first transports conveying the British relief forces for Archangel have sailed.

VOLUNTEERS CALLED FOR

The War Office lias issued an apeal for immediate volunteers for the North Russia relief force, which, it states, "will consist mainly of trained soldiers, including men who have been demobilised and discharged. Men re-enlisting must be fit for general service- and over 19 years old. Ex-soldiers •will be given their previous rank, and the pay -will be the same as that of the armies of occupation in Germany.

The maximum period of enlistment will be-one year, but no man re-enlisting will be kept longer than required for this special service, on completion of which all will be given two months' furlough on full pay. AMERICANS AND BOLSHEVISM. Trouble has broken out amongst the American troops in Russia, some of them refusing duty in the firing "line. General March, interviewed, said : A Bolshevist propaganda was the cause of the American insubordination at Archangel. THE BOLSHEVIST ARMY. The Chicago Tribune's correspondent telegraphs from Petrograd: The Bolshevist army is a well-drilled, disciplined, equipped, and officered force of a million men. The Soviet hopes to raise the number to three millions. The army receives high pay and more food than civilians. Thousands of officers of the Czar's regime enlisted voluntarily. Discipline is harsher than before the revolution. Thousands of agitators are working night and day with money and promises to fill the men with revolutionary fire. The Chicago Tribune's Petrograd correspondent states that Lenin's army now numbers more than a million men, who are fighting on a 450-mile front. The Daily Telegraph's Stockholm correspondent states that refugees from Petrograd report that the discipline of Bolshevist soldiers is deteriorating. Many are deserting from the fron*, and there is a growing hatred amongst the populace against the present regime.' A Russian wireless states that Trotsky urges the Red Army on the East front to close its Tanks and resume its victorious advance. He appeals to the troops Ix> remember that they are a military organisation, not a debating club. THE BALTIC STATES. The Bolshevists have been defeated in Northern Lithuania, and are retreating on the whole front. The Lettish headquarters announces a big battle between the Letts and Bolshevists near Schlock, in which the Bolshevists were repulsed. An attempt by Bolshevists to capture Mitau also failed. These attacks are believed to herald the beginning of a great Bolshevist offensive against Lettland and Lithuania. Esthonian newspapers state that the Bolshevists are completely, expelled from Esthonia. Fighting continues on Russian soil. Colonel Tallents, head of the British Relief Commission in Poland, has returned with photographs of terrible atrocities before the Esthonians counter-attacked the Bolshevists. Colonel Tallents maintains fehat the proper supply of food, clothing, and reconstruction materials along the Baltic coast is the first condition of a counter propaganda against Bolshayism. The Allies' are fortifying the Perekop isthmus to safeguard the Crimea. THE BLACK SEA AND URAL FRONTS. The New York Tribune's Paris correspondent telegraphs that the French are sending several regiment* to Odessa. Two regiments refused to proceed to fight against the. Bolshevists. The Bolshevists have occupied Chmerinka, an important junction of the railway lines to Kieff, Tarnopol, and Odessa, cutting off the Ukrainians from Galicia, and threatening the - towns of Proskuroff and Kamenetz Podolski. The population of the whole area is in consternation." A large section with Jewish organisations joined the Bolshevists. There are indications that the Government and Petlura with the Ukrainian army, which, 1 despite numerical inferiority, has been fighting ceaselessly the past three months, s will soon reach the end of their resources, and be compelled to seek refuge as far as possible from Galicia. The Bolshevists will then reach the new Rumanian frontier on the Dniester (i.e., the former eastern boundary of Bessarabia). Official: The Allies have evacuated Odessa. - Advices from Stanislau state that the Soviet army,' in the Eastern Ukraine, are surrendering in parties of hundreds. The recapture' of Ufa (Urals front) cuts off the Fifth Bolshevist army, which is believed to be surrounded, with not a loophole of . escape left. Other Siberian Government forces have passed beyond the defences of the Urals for 50 miles, and are likely, to destroy the whole Bolshevist offensive. Admiral Koltchak has an excellent stiffening of British battalions, and plentiful supplies of stores, arms, and ammunion are pouring into Siberia.

The army is splendidly equipped. The Bolshevists admit their expulsion from the Don basin (in the south) and from the Urals to be disastrous, as they depended on these regions for the bulk of their cevftal and coal supplies. General Deniken's Cossacks have steadily fallen back, owing to lack of support from the Allies, until over half of the Don territory has fallen into the hands of the Bolshevists, who claim successes on the Onega River and on the Archangel front.

A telegram from Athens states that, owing to an attempted Bolshevist movement at Varna by Socialists and Extremists from Sofia, British troops occupied Varna, and martial law has been proclaimed. All the ringleaders -will be court-martialled and severely punished. The Bucharest correspondent of The Times says: The Allies' abandonment of Odessa was inevitable, as Rumania is unable to feed her own starving multitudes, let alone supply the flour asked for Odessa. The evacuation gives the Bolshevists three-quarters of a million additional supporters and damages the Allies' prestige in Bessarabia, where the greatest turmoil has. prevailed since the fall of Kieff.

NEGOTIATIONS. The Daily News Paris correspondent understands that a development in the Russian situation is likely. Lenin and Trotsky are willing to undertake to discontinue official encouragement of Bolshevist propaganda abroad, the cessation of military aggression, and the withdrawal of Bolshevist armies from invaded countries. Matters are so advanced that a distinguished neutral has been sounded regarding his willingness to undertake relief work among the starving population of Russia.

Lord Reading, British Ambassador, stated that the suggestion that Mr Lloyd George at any time advised the recognition of Lenin and Trotsky is unfounded. A Paris correspondent states that the "Big Four" is considering a plan for fighting Bolshevism by organising a Russian Relief Commission under the auspices of some Scandinavian neutral Power, which would assume the responsibility for importing and distributing foods and raw material in Russia, there to be paid for by Russia. This plan does not necessitate the outward recognition of a Bolshevist Government.

The correspondent learns that General Smuts has gone to, Russia for the purpose of preparing: the plan. The Daily Herald states that Lenin's peace offer was made in the" following terms: —The Soviet Government to cease propaganda outside Russia; an amnesty for all those who have not taken up arms against the Government; selfdetermination for the Russian border .States; a conference of all parties to decide the future of Greater Russia; and payment of all foreign debts. SUPPLY OF FOOD. Mr Hoover has asked Professor Nansen to supervise tha Neutpral Commission's distribution of £10,000,000 worth of food in Russia monthly. America will deliver the food conditionally on hostilities ceasing, throughout Russia. THE APPEAL TO THE POPE. The Observatore Romano publishes correspondence between the Vatican and the Russian Bolshevist Government following upon the appeal of the Archbishop of Omsk to the Pope regarding Bolshevist outrages, including the murder of 20 bishops and hundreds of priests, accompanied by the cutting off of legs, while some „were flayed aliva. _ M. Tchitcherin callously replied to the Pope's protest, and accused the clergy of hoarding food whilst the people were starving. It is. the first occasion on which the Orthodox Russian Church has appealed direct to the Pope, and this action will probably facilitate reunions. SUNK BY A MINE. One hundred casualties occurred when the steamer which was deporting 400 Russian Bolshevists to Odessa struck a mine in the Dardanelles. •